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Asia Foundation President David D. Arnold joined Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace in Kabul last week to discuss the Foundation’s programs in Afghanistan. President Ghani praised the Foundation’s annual Survey of the Afghan People for its instrumental role with policymakers. They were joined by the Foundation’s Country Representative Abdullah Ahmadzai and Senior Vice President of Programs Gordon Hein. In separate meetings, Mr. Arnold and Mr. Ahmadzai met with Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah, who discussed the importance of the new Electoral Reform Commission. Read more.

Archive for July, 2014

On July 10, 2014, China released its much-awaited white paper on foreign aid on foreign aid. In recent years, Chinese foreign aid has been a subject of scrutiny and even controversy. As the world’s fastest rising power, China has sharply expanded its foreign aid spending in both scale and scope over the last decade.

On Tuesday, the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) agreed to take its 55 seats in the national assembly on condition of reconstituting the National Electoral Commission (NEC), which it accused of rigging last year’s national election…

Last week, Typhoon Rammasun (Glenda in the Philippines) swept through the Philippines, killing nearly 100 people and continued on its deadly path battering China and northern Vietnam. Just 24 hours after Glenda hit the Philippines, I visited Tacloban…

As The Asia Foundation recently marked its 20th anniversary in Mongolia, Country Representative Meloney Lindberg sat down with Oyun Sanjasuren, Minister of Environment and Green Development and former Asia Foundation grantee…

On July 2, The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative for Nepal George Varughese and Country Representative in Cambodia Silas Everett spoke on a panel hosted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London to discuss elections and development

The Asia Foundation just announced two new trustees: Donald Steinberg, former U.S. ambassador to Angola, former USAID deputy administrator, and current president of World Learning, and Elizabeth Economy, renowned Asia expert and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Stay tuned for an In Asia interview with Amb. Steinberg, and read analysis from Dr. Economy […]

On July 1 at the London School of Economics, Asia Foundation experts joined policymakers, practitioners, and academics at a Justice and Security Research Program (JSRP) conference: “Can Politics and Evidence Work Together in International Development?” Experts and thought-leaders such as Oxfam’s Duncan Green, debated working politically, evidence-based policy, and the trade-offs involved in conflict-affected areas. Read […]

Indonesians went to the polls on Wednesday to elect a new president and vice president. This election represents the first transition from one democratically elected president to another in Indonesia’s history. The scale and consequences of the election are enormous, but the contest is simple…

After being inundated by months of campaigning, it now looks like it will be some time before Indonesian electors can come up for air and focus on repairing some of the damage of a divisive election season. Indonesia has witnessed the tightest and most polarized presidential election in the democratic era…

There is much talk these days in Pakistan about democracy. Just over a year since national elections marked the first transition in the country’s history from one democratically elected federal government to another, some are already calling for new elections for reasons ranging from alleged malpractice at the 2013 polls…